This is a splendidly produced and directed allegory of Mussolini regime authoritarianism and patron-clientelism, plus then universal patriarchy, in the ostensible terms of a critique of the early Soviet regime powerfully performed -- charismatically by the young Valli and Brazzi. Rand's libertarian idealism engaging their original, biographically grounded authoritarian foils, rather than fantastic conceptions of Progressive Liberalism, yields rich, illuminating drama.
Especially striking to many contrails will be acquaintance with a Valli far more radiant than The Third Man's leading lady and the Brazzi whom the Brazzi of Summertime and South Pacific caricatured.
The film is as strikingly feminist Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy, Cukor's 1940s Hephburn-Tracy films, or Sturges' Palm Beach Story.
